Orp Horn – A Bike Accessory I Hope To Never Use

I have a bell on my bike. It’s nice to have when you want to let the folks, especially pedestrians on my local multipurpose trails, know that you want to pass them. Because many are wearing earbuds, just saying “passing on your left,” isn’t enough.

But what about on the road? What happens if some idiot in a car doesn’t look and cuts me off? I don’t think the bell will do the trick at announcing my presence. Sure, I can yell at the top of my lungs, but I hope their stereo isn’t turned up too loud. Although I’ve never had the need, I was okay with having to do that if needed.

Over a year ago, I stumbled across the Orp Horn on Kickstarter. It’s cool little bike accessory that would reduce my need to yell in an emergency situation. Their idea was to make cyclists more visible and “hearable” with a combination dual tone, high decibel bike horn and front beacon light. The result is a really loud horn that fits into a small package.

What really appealed to me was it’s slick design. The horn has unibody construction that is formed to look good and function well. It comes in several different color options, and I decided to go with orange.

Well, after several long months after it funded, I finally got mine. It came in a really cool package that, once unfolded, doubles as the instruction sheet. I was pleased to see efforts put into the design – even in the packaging – to reduce waste. The Orp Horn came, not damaged, but it came slightly unfinished. There was a little bit of the cover that wasn’t locked into place. A quick snap and it was fine.

The Orp Horn is cleverly designed with a one-size, built-on strap. This fits perfectly on wider diameter handlebars. If you have a smaller diameter bar, you’ll need to use the included rubber strip to keep the horn from slipping.

Time to test it out. The first thing you need to do, after you mount it, is turn it on. This is done by pressing and holding the button on the top for 3 seconds. It makes a cheerful chirp to let you know that it’s activated. Tapping the button again turns on the flashing light feature. Tapping it again, gives you a solid light. To turn it off, you need to press and hold the button for another 3 seconds.

The Orp Horn comes with two sounds. When you push up on the lever, it gives you a friendly chirp. When you pull down on the lever, you get the super loud chirp. It’s not like an air horn that you hear coming from most cars, but it’s loud enough to make a statement. Given it’s compact size, the sound is quite remarkable.

This is a great accessory to add to my rides. My hope is that I will never need to use the Orp Horn, but if I do, it’s comforting to know that I can let car drivers hear that I’m there.

UPDATE:

Where To Buy: I got mine for a deal on Kickstarter, which funded last year. You can still buy them on their site for a bit more: click here.